Nevertheless, proponents of posting the Ten Commandments in the schools sometimes argue that, actually, the commandments are not so much “religious” rules, per se, but more along the lines of just being merely some really good, sound, basic moral principles — just ten widely accepted, universally applicable ethical laws which all genuinely moral people (of any religion, or even of none) should therefore have no real problem with. After all, who could seriously object to “Thou shalt not murder” or “Thou shalt not steal”?

Whenever someone poses this sort of question (which actually happens with considerable frequency), or whenever someone seriously suggests that perhaps the Ten Commandments are not necessarily inherently “religious,” but actually can be seen instead as merely “moral” in character (and hence religiously neutral), I really must wonder: when was the last time this individual actually read the Ten Commandments?

A lot of people I encounter personally really do seem to have the vague but sincerely held (yet sincerely mistaken) impression that the Ten Commandments are just rules for moral living and ethical behavior, rather than specifically “religious” commandments.

Granted, the last six of the commandments may reasonably be viewed as reflecting generally accepted moral principles or rules, which themselves are not necessarily or inherently religious in nature. Honoring your father and mother, not committing murder, not committing adultery, not stealing, not telling falsehoods, and not coveting your neighbor’s property might well strike most people as perfectly wise moral counsel (and not as specifically “religious” counsel).

However, what about the first four of the Ten Commandments? You know — the ones that assert that the God of Israel is the one and only deity to whom religious allegiance is due, that idol worship is a sin, that misuse of the holy name of the biblical God is also a sin, and that the Sabbath has been divinely blessed by God as a sacred day that must be remembered and kept holy (by abstaining from work)?

How are those four — which amount to nearly half (40%) of the Ten Commandments — anything but undeniably and inescapably religious in nature?

Those first four commandments are plainly not just religiously neutral rules for good behavior, which a moral person of any faith (or none) might unreservedly accept and abide by. These four are pretty explicitly theological, rather than merely ethical, in character. Insofar as each of these first four of the Ten Commandments has directly to do with God, posting them in any U.S. public school would pretty clearly constitute an unconstitutional state endorsement or promotion of religion over non-religion.

Additionally, no one can legitimately argue that these four initial commandments are somehow universally applicable, at least to religion in general (or in the abstract), or that they would at least be broadly acceptable to most if not all religious folks. Those first four commandments quite specifically relate to the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, and so are actually unique to one very particular stream of religious tradition — the Judeo-Christian tradition, to be precise — which by no means constitutes the entirety of the religious landscape.